Only a Month to Lace and Blade 4

Friday, January 12, 2018 - 10:10

The countdown is running to the release of Lace and Blade 4 containing my new Alpennia story "Gifts Tell Truth". Preorder links are up at all major e-book dealers. (There will also be a trade paperback edition.) Editor Deborah J. Ross is running a series of interviews with the contributors on her blog. Check it out and watch for when mine appears!

I really enjoyed having a chance to write this story of some of the early adventures of Vicomtesse Jeanne de Cherdillac. She's such a fun and complicated character to write about and has a great deal of not-yet-seen history packed full of stories. (I'll be writing another story about Jeanne's youth that has a framing story set at the end of Floodtide, which I plan to time to bring out just after that book releases--though I have no firm idea when that will be yet.) It's interesting to watch reader responses to Jeanne. Love her or hate her, she definitely provokes opinions! For me, the challenge in writing her is that she's so very different in personality from me, not only in being such an extrovert, but also in how strongly her passions and desires drive her. Once I had her settled down with Antuniet in the course of The Mystic Marriage, I eliminated the possibility of other romantic adventures for her moving forward in the timeline, but she does have a past. (Wow does she have a past!) And I suspect I could get a whole volume of stories out of that past eventually.

I am surprised to hear you say "Once I had her settled down with Antuniet in the course of The Mystic Marriage, I eliminated the possibility of other romantic adventures for her moving forward in the timeline...", since I recall a conversation between Antuniet and Jeanne that implied that there could well be more romantic adventures for Jeanne in the future, and if there are Antuniet will love her anyway. I was left with the impression that Jeanne wouldn't be seeking them out with her previous enthusiasm as she is happy at home, but I did get the impression that she isn't going to completely ignore that aspect of her personality. (Perhaps not unlike the way Kylson slowed down after marrying Anne, but still continued to embraced opportunities to revel in his joy and love of <i>Womankind</i> as embodied in a few select friends or acquaintances now and then.)

When I was developing their relationship, I considered the possibility that they would end up with an open relationship. That's certainly what Antuniet offered her. But when I looked closely at where they were both coming from, I decided it was in character for Jeanne to realize that Antuniet would have a hard time truly being comfortable in a sexually open relationship due to the nature of her insecurities. The compromise they arrive at--though it isn't overtly stated in detail--is that Jeanne is free to flirt and socialize to her heart's content and Antuniet will be secure that Jeanne's public behavior doesn't impinge on their partnership. (Antuniet also compromises in becoming a more "public partner" so that Jeanne doesn't feel like they're living two entirely separate lives.) It isn't an arrangement that all readers will consider the ideal outcome. (I recall a convention panel once on the topic of "how many romance plots would fail if everyone involved were ok with open relationships") But I think it's the one that's in keeping with their established personalities.

You may be interested to know that there is a situation in a future book that will involve negotiating a poly relationship--or at least, negotiating how to be involved in a de facto poly relationship without it needing to be toxic. Let's just say that royalty aren't always free to have control over who they end up in relationships with... But that's as much as I'll say for the moment, in part because you haven't been introduced to all the players yet.